Archive for June 28th, 2008

Reading about something vs. actually doing it – it’s the curse of social media. People love to talk about it, but sometimes we can analyze and conference it to death without ever actually taking 5 minutes to sign up for an account on that next big social thing everyone’s buzzing about. What about actually using social media?

Regular Geek recently had a great post about required reading in social media. While Rob has some excellent recommendations, it’s important to remember that for the average professional or regular joe who wants to control his or her image online, an hour’s worth of actual usage of social media can have far more dramatic results than 20 or 30 hours reading about it.

A lot of marketing professionals talk about “social media” and “Web 2.0” in vague hushed tones. I’ve seen agencies pitch full social media plans without anyone on the team actually having an account or any experience using any of the sites or communities they’re talking about.

If you want to take control over your online reputation, one of the easiest ways (besides SEO on your own site) is through social media. Public profiles, blogs, and community participation can quickly work their way up the top 10 results for your name in Google. Note that the key word here is participation. It can seem overwhelming to get started if you spend too much time reading social media theory, however.

Here’s a basic list of places to get started that will help your personal SERPs and give you a crash course in the big players in social media.

MySpace – Create a public profile. Choose a professional template. Use your real name or your real business name. Use your name in your “About me” section as well. Use a real picture of yourself.Facebook – Create a public profile. Don’t add a bunch of ridiculous applications (unless you want to). Add personal and professional contacts. Again, use your real name and real picture.Twitter – Create an account. Use your real name in your bio. Update at least once a day.
Forums – Create an account on forums related to your business or your professional interests. You can even join forums related to personal interests if you’re comfortable with that. Use your real name and title in your forum signature, and post on several topics per week.
Start a blog – Use WordPress or Blogger. Choose a topic and stick with it. Don’t mix personal and professional stuff on your blog. Post 2X weekly for at least 3 months. Add it to your calendar. Get in the habit of taking notes on things that might make good blog posts. Have an About Me page that uses your name and your business name.

This is a basic plan of attack for creating some new results for your screen name, your name or your business name. This also gets you involved in the major activities in social media – profiles, community and blogging.